How many diamond pushups should you be able to do?
The standard 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps is a good start for most people. If you are doing diamond push-ups as part of a workout finisher, you are more likely to perform as many reps as possible to burn out your triceps. For bulking up, perform one of the harder variations (see below) and aim for 3 sets of 15-20 reps.
More Arm Exercises
And compared to other triceps exercises, diamond pushups are one of the hardest, because you're using your bodyweight and don't have the mechanical advantages created by regular strength training machines, McCall explains.
Age | 17-19 | 40-49 |
---|---|---|
Excellent | > 56 | > 34 |
Good | 47-56 | 28-34 |
Above average | 35-46 | 21-28 |
Average | 19-34 | 11-20 |
The diamond push-up is one of the most effective triceps exercises. The unique hand position of this bodyweight exercise activates your triceps brachii more than a standard push-up.
Do around 3 sets of 15-20 reps for the best results! However, if you want to use them to boost your strength and endurance, then try performing more reps with a longer rest time between sets. Or, you can try doing as many reps as you can in one go a couple of times daily, and increase this amount every week.
Because the chest muscles are a much larger muscle group than the triceps and subsequently a lot stronger, the diamond push up is much more difficult and you'll likely reach failure a lot quicker.
How many reps of Diamond Push Ups can the average lifter do? The average male lifter can do 24 reps of Diamond Push Ups. This makes you Intermediate on Strength Level and is a very impressive achievement.
The 1-arm slide push-up is one of the most advanced push-up variations you can do. You need a great amount of strength as you are practically doing a push-up on one arm. These are also one of the toughest ab exercises you will do.
Increased Chest Activity
However, studies have shown that while there is an increase in tricep activation in diamond push-ups, there is also an increase in the activation of the pectoralis muscles. Hence, this workout is actually great for building muscle in the chest as well.
To recap, diamond push-ups are a great choice for building the size and strength of your triceps, as well as the chest and deltoids.
What do diamond push-ups target?
Unlike the classic push up where your chest (pecs) is the primary muscle group that works, your triceps do the bulk of the work here. Diamond push ups are one of the best tricep exercises to engage and work the lateral head (outside head) of the three-headed tricep muscle.
Average: 55-74 push-ups. Good: 75-99 push-ups. Excellent: 100-110 push-ups. Extraordinary: 111 or more.

You will likely notice gains in upper body strength if you do pushups regularly. For the best results, continue to add variety to the types of pushups you do. You can also follow a “pushup challenge“ where you gradually increase the number of pushups each week. You can work up to doing 100 reps in two months.
Male/female push-up standards (max/min)
The maximum score is 70 points; the minimum is 40 for each age group.
Another thing you might have noticed is how intensely diamond push-ups work your triceps. While regular push-ups engage the triceps, diamond push-ups take the triceps to the next level. If you are looking for an excellent tricep workout, look no further than a diamond push-up.
The standard push-up position is great for building your chest muscles. Simply position your hands under your shoulders and put your toes on the floor. Align your hips so that your body makes a straight line from top to bottom and lower your chest to the floor by bending your elbows without letting your hips drop.
Diamond Push-Ups
Standard push-ups are a great way to get your arms blasting, but if you want to focus even more on adding some mass to your biceps and triceps, make them diamond.
Ideally, you should try to do 3 sets of 12 reps each day. This will help you gain muscle strength. If you want to gain benefit from this form of exercise then do it in the right way. Performing the wrong form of exercise will not benefit you anyway..
The diamond pushup invites you to turn your the pits of your elbows toward each other, a more comfortable position when your hands are so narrow, but doing that also removes tension from your lats and places your shoulders in internal rotation, a position that invites injury for your shoulder joint," says Samuel.
Here's why: The wider apart are your hands from each other the bigger the focus on the chest muscles — the closer you put your hands the focus moves away form the chest and goes to your triceps.
What percent of the population can do 20 push-ups?
36.5% can pull off less than five pushups. 17% can do between six and 10. 14% can do between 11 and 20. 10.6% can do 21 to 30.
Close-stance pushup
Moving your hands closer together allows you to target your biceps more directly.
If you can do 40 or more -- which is really hard -- great! If you can do only 15 or 20, not so great. But then again, researchers found that every pushup you can do over the baseline of 10 decreases the risk of heart disease. If you can only do 10 or fewer, you need to get to work.
The world record for the most number of non-stop push-ups is 10,507 by Minoru Yoshida of Japan, which was achieved in October 1980, breaking the record of 7,650 by Henry C. Marshal (USA) from 1977.
Push-up is a full-body exercise and to do that your arms, core, and legs muscles have to be strong. If any of these muscles are weak it might be difficult for you to do push-ups.
"A military push-up is performed similar to that of a standard push-up. The main difference is that you have to keep your arms close to your body throughout the range of motion. This puts more of an emphasis on your triceps, and even your lats if you're maintaining proper form," Stalzer says.
Barry Linson knows how to make a goal and stick with it, and has caught the attention of many. In 2021, Barry completed his goal of 1,000,000 pushups by doing at least 2,000 every day.
In general, our muscles tend to fully recover after 48 hours of rest. So if you are doing 100 push-ups a day, the muscles are not getting enough time to recover and you will feel more fatigued during weeks 3 and 4. And it is during the recovery process that muscles grow bigger and stronger.
But researchers found that when participants performed a 6-repetition maximum of both the pushup and bench press, the muscle-building results were the same. You may not even need a big band to provide enough pressure to exhaust your muscles in just 6 reps.
Though push-ups predominantly target muscles of the upper body, performing them with good form can also strengthen muscles of the core, specifically the abdominal muscles and lower back.
Are slow push-ups better?
But what's better doing them fast or slow? Slower push ups put more strain on your muscles (more time under tension) and help you focus on form, thereby increasing muscle mass and strength. Faster pushups make it more of an aerobic exercise, and will help you gain endurance and explosive power.
Over time, your strength will improve and you will feel stronger. The difference from the 1000 pushups challenge, is that you complete 100 pushups a day for 30 days, so you build muscle daily and improve your strength.
The Navy SEALs fitness test requires you to run 15 miles in 10.5 minutes; swim 500 yards in 12.5 minutes; complete 50 pushups in two minutes; 50 curl-ups in two minutes; and 10 pull-ups in two minutes.
Navy SEAL pre-training requirements include: Push-ups in 2 minutes: 42 minimum, 100 optimum. Sit-ups in 2 minutes: 52 minimum, 100 optimum. Pull-ups (no time limit): 8 minimum, 20 optimum.
PST Event | Minimum Standards | Competitive Standards |
---|---|---|
500-yard swim | 12:30 | 8 minutes |
Push-ups | 50 | 80-100 |
Sit-ups | 50 | 80-100 |
Pull-ups | 10 | 15-20 |
The deficit pushup still works your chest, front delts and triceps, but the extra range of motion and extra stretch for your pec muscles make them work harder, causing more growth.
Weight lifting is usually associated with building muscle mass, but you can increase your muscle size and strength with calisthenic exercises like push-ups. When doing a push-up, muscles used includes pecs, triceps, biceps, quadriceps and core muscles.
Boxers generally don't perform push-ups every day. While push-ups work similar upper body muscles to those involved in punching, doing push-ups every day will result in burnout when also boxing often.
According to the American Council of Exercise, the diamond-triangle push up is the best and most effective triceps exercise, activating and recruiting all three head of the triceps throughout the entirety of the movement, to help build more strength and muscle mass.
Spiderman push-ups can improve core strength and stability.
As you lift your leg during the exercise, you activate core muscles to stabilize yourself more than a regular push-up. A strong core can help prevent poor posture and lower back injury.
Is 10 diamond push-ups good?
The standard 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps is a good start for most people. If you are doing diamond push-ups as part of a workout finisher, you are more likely to perform as many reps as possible to burn out your triceps. For bulking up, perform one of the harder variations (see below) and aim for 3 sets of 15-20 reps.
Diamond Push-Ups
Standard push-ups are a great way to get your arms blasting, but if you want to focus even more on adding some mass to your biceps and triceps, make them diamond.
The diamond push up is better than the wide variety in almost every way: it's better for developing the chest and the triceps. The only area where the wide push up showed greater activation was the serratus anterior muscle.
There are several benefits that can be gained by adding the diamond push-up to an individual's workout routine. This includes an increase in triceps activity, increase in chest muscle activity, improvement in core strength and stability, and enhancement of shoulder strength.
Wide-arm push-up
Placing your hands in a wider position, about double shoulder-width apart, puts more of the focus on your chest area rather than your arms or shoulders.
Diamond push ups train the same muscle groups used in the bench press and in a comparable range of motion as well. They can increase the size and strength of the pecs and triceps, increase overall work capacity of these muscle groups, and help maintain healthy function at the shoulder joint.
- Close Grip Barbell Bench Press.
- Band Overhead Tricep Extension.
- Cable Push Down.
- Cable Underhand Tricep Pushdown.
- Leaning Overhead Rope Tricep Extension.
- Lying Tricep Extension.
- Band Tricep Kickback.
- EZ Bar Bench Press.